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No doubt it looks great as-is. You got good results with the yellow considering it's over a black coat!

Looks great to me! Isn't the actual a combination of yellow and white? Would you mind sharing how you did it? Best idea I can come up with is gluing on printed stock - far from ideal.

Oooooohhhh ..... AAahahhhahhhhhhh .... WOW, that is awesome. I was wondering how much longer it would be before we started seeing full panels come together. How much longer before some in-flight vids? ;)

But by using a USB expansion, as pitbldr stated, you connect up to 4 Master Cards to the USB expansion, instead of directly to a parallel port. Master Card alone = connect via Parallel port. USB expansion + (up to 4) Master Cards = USB port. AFAIK, OpenCockpits & SIOC no longer officially support connecting directly via Parallel, either. It may still work, though. The USB outputs card does not include provisions for switched inputs.

You need to look around a bit more at OpenCockpits - they don't just sell prefab gauges, they also sell interface cards, kits, or you can build your own. There are several folks on these forums working with DCS & SIOC (OpenCockpits interface). Beyond that, check out Mike's Flight Deck - http://www.mikesflightdeck.com/ You may find some useful info there.

I'm still in the "build it physically" stage here, but have the cards and have fiddled around in SIOC just a little bit. No interfacing with DCS yet, but if you're looking at Oakes's and y2kiah's threads, I'd say you're in the right spot. Another thread with good info is Jocman's pit build - he seems to be working on the wiring and code piece, first. I wish I could be more help right up front, but I'll be poking through those threads myself once I get some switches wired up. :)

Incredible work - absolutely fantastic!

Pics are a necessity. Start the price wars, as there are already a few folks here who can offer panels already. First choices for most folks seem to be the UFC & CDU. I'm hoping someone will perfect those before I'm forced to build them myself! :P

In the global economy of today, any producer going to mass-market with a joystick has to not only be able to produce it at a profitable price-point, but also has to be prepared to take on the existing major players and all their licensing deals/patents/partners in court. We'd like to think it's simple - but it's not. We consumers vote with our dollars ... and we like the latest and greatest, even if it comes with a few problems.

Both the Cougar MFDs and the Warthog should be recognized by default as DirectInput game controllers (even under XP). DCS: A-10C will set them up correctly by default. Customization software (TARGET) only needs to be loaded if you want custom keypresses, modes or shift functionality.

I understand putting the Warthog grip on a Cougar base, but not the other way around ... Why would you want to put the Cougar grip on the Warthog base?

You may feel like that because you're so far ahead of where most of us are with the programming! I don't know anyone this far along other than y2kiah and Oakes (I'm sure there are others)! But rest assured, we're following with interest! I'm sure I'll be combing this thread for weeks once I actually start wiring things up!

^^ Agreed. Far too expensive for what it is, anyway.

IMHO, Saitek needs to get their act together, particularly with regard to their 'pro flight' lineup. With the exception of the small LCD units, all these add-on panels consist of nothing more than a few switches and lamps, with circuitry no more complicated than your run-of-the-mill gamepad. Charging over $100 for cheap-o little panels is outrageous.

Without oddball ideas, we'd still be walking everywhere!! I was reading at the Desert Domes site (someone posted a link here) and immediately got all excited - but I'm just nowhere near that point, yet. I think combining a few of the ideas in this thread could lend some pretty spectacular results - sure, there's distortion issues to work out, seams to eliminate, etc., but the immersion factor might make the small imperfections seem to disappear if the overall effect were good.

I misspoke - it is not dependent ONLY on viewing distance. The proper curvature, whether speaking of a satellite dish or full dome depends on your distance from it. Your viewing distance should ideally equal the radius of the curve. Using a large satellite dish could provide a much wider FOV (of the outside/simulated world) than a simple flat-screen television of the same size, since the curvature of the dish WOULD wrap the view around you, at least to some extent. However, you are obviously correct in saying that a full dome projection system would be very close to the ideal - a full sphere projection where I can turn my head to look in any direction and see nothing but the simulation. Still - every little step we take toward immersion is a good one. I hope that from this clarification I've demonstrated that I understand FOV quite well.

AFAIK, no one has reported a throttle going belly-up while in use - it's always been either the PC boots and the Throttle fails to come online, or it fails to come online when it's connected to the USB port.

I for one did not open mine, fearing TM would claim I'd tinkered with it and therefore wasn't covered by warranty. One fellow has apparently sent just the circuitboard back ... but I'd put a hearty bet on the exact same board (version) being sent as a replacement. If TM has been able to track it down to a hardware fault, then (assuming they know anything about their customers), surely they'd do a mass-reissue of PCBs ... or perhaps I have too much faith?

Ummm ... yes, my statement still stands. I'm not "judging" anyone - simply adding my opinion and input like everyone else here.

This sort of thread just screams flame war. :) The perfect HOTAS for you is going to be different than the perfect HOTAS for the next guy, and will depend on several factors - what sim do you fly? What is your price range? How important are looks, or accuracy, or how it feels? How much customization do you want? All of the current offerings have their strengths and weaknesses. IMHO, you simply cannot beat either the CH or TM lines. These are the players to beat - everyone else is playing catch-up (which is why everyone else's setups are cheaper). * ducks *

OP asked about most cost-effective rudders, and the point is that it comes down to how much you're willing to spend for what sort of capability. If all you're looking for is a way to work the rudders for as little as possible, then spend $20 and some time hacking together your own set. On the opposite end of the spectrum are probably the top-end Simpeds, built to last with a USB interface and integrated toe-brakes. As I understand it, they're great - but they'll cost you.

Leo's boards (at least the one I'm familiar with) sends a constant on, not a pulse. But, multiple keypresses on the keyboard are interpreted differently than HID/joystick button presses. If you press enough keys on a keyboard, eventually the system can't tell which keys are pressed. This is not the case for a USB HID (such as Leo's board, or the TM Warthog) - you could leave all 32 buttons pressed at once and Windows would see them all just fine. How your simulator would interpret that is another question, entirely. DCS is programmed to handle input like that quite well - most other sims are not (hence TigersharkBAS's pulse circuit). I think the best option for a pulse-type circuit is really just to choose a momentary-type toggle as your switch in the first place. The only reason to use a latching toggle (that stays on when you let go) is if you have some function to perform when the switch is turned on, AND when it is turned off. DCS is programmed to support this - but the circuit here (using the pulse signal) will leave the switch in the ON position until you turn it off - which will do nothing in the sim, unless you're using a DT switch with another circuit (using another button and possibly another pulse circuit) for the 'off' position. Wow ... that wasn't supposed to be so long. Hope I didn't confuse anyone even more.

Proper curvature is dependent only on viewing distance, and some of those big, old satellite dishes are BIG - easily large enough to put a 50" TV to shame (at least in terms of FOV).

OP also balked at a $200 price tag ... You can bolt a few pieces of wood together with a pot or hall sensor hooked up to the PCB of a USB gamepad and have operational rudder pedals for under $20. Assuming rudimentary woodworking skills, they're not likely to look (or feel) great. http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/08/diy-rudder-pedals-on-the-cheap.html# If you want something ready to plug in for less than $100, you'd better start watching eBay for a good deal. The CH pedals are really the cheapest contenders (unused), AFAIK.

Sketchup, like pitbldr said ... and cardboard.